1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to physical education and sports training devices, and in particular, relates to a device for teaching crossover dribbling in basketball.
2. Description of the Related Art
Basketball, like other sports, requires that specific skills be taught and practiced. One such skill is that of dribbling the ball, and one valuable dribbling skill is that of crossover dribbling, in which the skilled player dribbles the ball with the dominant hand, and then quickly switches the ball to the other hand with a quick, low bounce. This is ideally a low quick bounce right in front of the opponent that accompanied by a change in direction. This allows the player to confuse the opponent as to the direction of play and switch directions.
Typically crossover dribbling is taught by using a cone, such as a traffic cone, and having the player approach it and then try the crossover dribble close to the cone. This technique, however, does not force the player to do the crossover dribble in a particular place and does not force the player to do a low dribble at that place.
While there are prior devices that are designed to teach dribbling skills, such as the patent of Bourguet (U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0005939 for a support for the ball to keep it from rolling away), as well as numerous devices designed to teach players to shoot the basketball, there is not a prior device that allows a player to learn and practice crossover dribbling.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a basketball dribble device that can be used by a player to learn and practice crossover dribbling.
Other objects and advantages will be more fully apparent from the following disclosure and appended claims.